2018 Was A Breakthrough For Candidates Of Color. Why Isn’t 2020 The Same?

October 16, 2019

A year after candidates of color flourished in Democratic primaries around the country during the midterm elections, the three leading candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are all white, while Asian American, Black and Latino candidates are trapped in single digits in public polling. 

Heading into the fourth presidential debate in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday evening, three of the leading candidates of color find their campaigns in varying degrees of peril. Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro has suggested he may drop out of the race if he fails to qualify for the fifth debate in Georgia next month. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) just threatened to quit the contest unless he raised $1.7 million in 10 days. (He succeeded.) And Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who briefly ascended to the race’s top tier during the summer, is rejiggering her campaign with a focus on Iowa and a reworked stump speech.